Of Blood and Blindness
by cannedcorndog
Summary: Kat has no idea who she is. After coming from a torturous experience, she runs into Barry Allen who promises to help her find her parents. Every member of Team Flash suddenly becomes concerned for the lost, empty girl who has no sight. (Kat is an OC-please review-don't know where I'm going with this)T for some violence and thematic elements
1. Chapter 1

The girl opened her eyes...she could see nothing but darkness, a heavy black mass that seemed to engulf her in its sinister presence. She could hear her own breath as she gasped in the dreaded darkness. Why couldn't she remember? Why couldn't she see? Who was she? The girl backed herself up against the nearest wall, glad to have some anchor to reality. She knew her name; her name was Katrina. So, now she knew her name, but she did not know who it belonged to. Where was she? What happened?

The dark was so cold, so lonely. Katrina tried to imagine herself back home...but where exactly _was_ home? Did she have a father, a mother? Yes, how could she forget? Her mother and father were gentle people...Katrina could make out their images in her mind, images that seemed so important and precious to her in this very moment. She could almost see her mother's fond smile and hear her father's warm chuckle...what was his name? She whimpered in the dark, desperate to discover this one thing about her past. Katrina pounded the side of her head with an open palm, trying to force the memories to come back, but she got nothing but a slow headache. Helplessness washed over her like an ocean current, too strong for her to withstand. She remembered the ocean then...did she live next to a shore?

Katrina lost all sense of time. It might have been hours, or days for all she knew. How long had she been in this black room after all? The wall she lay against felt like concrete, cold and firm against her spine. She longed to see something, anything that would reveal itself, but she was lost in the oblivion of the darkness, the darkness she felt was drowning her.

Finally, she heard a noise, one that was not of her own making, the sound of metal scraping against metal. The sound of heavy footsteps walking towards her. She still couldn't see the figure or anything for that matter, but someone had joined her in her demise. She only hoped that it was her father. _Lukas?...Lucky?...Leonard?...Layne?..._She still couldn't remember his name.

"Dad?" she whispered in a barely audible voice.

Time seemed to stall.

"No. C'mon Kat." said the person who Katrina now could identify as a man with a gravelly voice. Did everyone call her _Kat?_ It seemed right, but why?

She remained in her corner, waiting for the light, waiting for her vision to return. The man before her growled.

"I _said_, get up, Kat!"

She couldn't see what happened next. She could only feel it. She could feel the boot crash into her stomach with such power and ferocity that it left her breathless, doubling over on the floor. She cried out in pain, and yet, still, she wondered..._Are you my father?_ Tears streamed from her eyes, but not because of the pain. She wasn't sure why she felt the way she did. She was scared...no, she was terrified, terrified of what would become of her in this place. Why wasn't she home? Where was the ocean she lived next to? Where was the sound of the waves sweeping against the sand? Where was her father?

Katrina eventually stood up, bracing herself against the wall for support. The man grabbed her by her forearm and led her out of the dark room. She staggered along with him, tripping over her own feet. She could feel the air whistling past her as they hurried along to wherever he was leading her. Why was everything so dark? So many questions...Finally, the man shoved her and she fell against a cool table. A minute later, her arms and legs were being pulled in four different directions and secured to whatever she lay on. Realizing what might be happening to her, Katrina lashed out, kicking frantically against her captors who had already strapped her arms against the side of what she now concluded was a metal table...a metal torture device. After all, no one secured patients unless they knew beforehand that the process would be painful.

"Grab her legs!"

"I'm trying to!"

"Kat, stop it!"

She snarled viciously as her legs were forced under two heavy straps. She struggled against them to no avail. She finally worked up the courage to speak.

"What are you doing to me?!"

"The same thing we've been doing for the last four months…" said a voice from the other side of the room.

Her blood ran cold. She recognized this woman's voice. It was cool, and yet, not refreshing as one might imagine in a dream. The woman spoke in an ominous tone, sinister if Katrina had to describe it using one word.

"Who are you people!?" Katrina demanded, struggling against her restraints one more time before settling.

No one answered her question. Instead, they spoke among each other in hushed tones, moving across the room.

"Let's just get this over with…"

"Then, we won't have to see the little scumbag again…"

"Get her eyes, will ya?"

A second passed and two hands were on her face, smelling of wine and cedar. They held her eyes open with brute force. She tried to close her eyes, but they refused to be shut. What was happening? All she wanted was to fall asleep, to go home, back to the ocean, back to her father.

With no warning, she felt the cold steel slide into her open eye. She screamed at the top of her lungs as what she now knew to be a needle was inserted further into her pupil. The sensation was beyond painful. Fire engulfed her eye. Katrina cried. She moaned. She screamed more. Did no one have any empathy for the girl screaming against the restraints Every muscle in her body was tense. Her mouth quavered in despair. The needle finally stopped its dive, but then, Katrina was greeted by yet another odd sensation. That of a thick liquid being poured into the puncture. It stung like acid, and it hurt even more so. She continued screaming, shouting, yelling, but she was blind, and those around her were deaf. Eventually, the needle eased out of her eye and her pupil was greeted by the cold kiss of the air, not satisfying, burning. Not a relief, a symbol of what was once there that was not anymore.

The hands released her burning eye that she shut as fast as she could, but it was too late. Tears were already streaming down her face as she whimpered, feeling pathetic at the hands of her torturers. The hands grabbed her other eye and stretched them open. This time, she was prepared, but she didn't know if that was better or worse.

"No!" she cried, "Please, don't! I beg you not to-"

Her pleas were cut short by an ear-splitting scream as the needle entered into her eye, bringing with it: fire and suffering. She screamed louder, but was cut short by a sting to the side of her face. Someone had just hit her. The skin around her cheek was beginning to feel numb. She minimized her screams to gasps and sputters. Breath would not come to her easily. It seemed like an eternity before the needle was finally pulled from her wet eye, the eye that was drowning in her blood, her tears, and the foreign liquid that was inserted there.

Her restraints were removed, but not before two men grabbed her arms with an iron grip. They dragged her out of the room. Her legs felt weak. Her arms felt limp. And her eyes felt like the victim of some terrible abuse. Tears rolled down her face as they pulled her out of the room, and eventually the building. She felt the warmth of the sun comfort the back of her neck. She was outside now. Katrina could hear the noises: the sounds of cars whizzing past, the sound of people whispering around her. The men behind Katrina released her arms and threw her to the ground. She could hear them chuckling as they walked back to whatever spawn they had come from. Katrina was left alone on the sidewalk next to faceless people who murmured around her at ease. She covered her eyes with her fingers gently, pulling away after the first wave of pain commenced, filling her with the feeling of nettles being driven into her eyes, but nettles were better than needles filled with whatever liquid it was.

Katrina felt the solid ground with an outstretched hand and stood up, slowly regaining some of her strength. What would she do now? She was blind, wasn't she? She took a deep breath and began her walk along the sidewalk. She strayed from her course a few times, but people who bumped into her told Katrina where she needed to be. She just needed to stay away from the cars, right? She tried to focus, not on what she couldn't see, but on what she could hear, and what she could feel: people talking around her...cars speeding by...warm sun...gentle breeze...she only wanted to hear and feel one thing though: the sound of her father's voice, and his touch as she imagined him holding her in his arms, not letting her go to some evil captors ho would torture her, but where was this father? _Who_ was this father? Katrina did not remember the man, but she remembered that she loved him, naturally, as any child might.

She was walking at a steady pace when she ran into another person and staggered backwards. Quickly, the stranger caught her before her fall and pulled her back to her feet with a gentle hand.

"You okay?" asked the stranger, letting go of her cold hands.

Could she trust this man? Or was he like the other men? The ones who had beaten her and blinded her with their tools. Katrina thought of running, but where could she possibly run to? People streamed by to her left, and cars streamed by to her right. She held out her arms in surrender.

"Please, don't hurt me…" was all she could say.

"What do you mean, have you been-" he stopped, "what happened to your eyes?"

_I wish I knew_...Katrina thought, tilting her head downwards to hide her shame. She thought of crying, but no tears would come. She wondered how she must look to this man: a sad girl with two holes in her eyes. How was he to know what had happened to her? How was she to tell him? She wanted to forget it all. Forget the evil men. Forget the needle. Forget the liquid that now filled her eyes.

The man placed a hand on her shoulder. Katrina shuddered.

"Are you blind?"

The words made her want to curl into a ball and die, because that's what she was, wasn't it? She was blind. She nodded slowly.

"What's your name?"

"Kat." she nearly whispered.

She didn't want to be called Katrina by anyone. No one but her father and mother. Where were they? Katrina was a name that would only be used if someone really, truly loved her. Katrina would be the name that her father knew her by. She imagined the scene in her head. Her father would find her, wrap her in his arms, and call her _Katrina_. Until then, she was _Kat_, _Kat_ the broke, _Kat_ the damaged…

"Hi, Kat, I'm Barry. Look, you're a little young to be out here all by yourself. Where are your parents?"

Kat (for that was her identity at this moment) cried into her jacket sleeve.

"I don't know."

"Do you want help looking for them?"

She nodded vigorously, wanting nothing but to see her father and mother. Tears streamed down her face again.

"Okay, can I take you to the police department and see if we can figure out where your parents are?"

Again, Kat nodded and accepted her fate as Barry grabbed her hand gently. It wasn't a touch filled with hate as the other men had when they grabbed her. She flinched.

"Gone through a lot, haven't we?"

"I want to find my parents…" she whispered sadly.

"And I promise you we will."

Were promises worth anything? She hoped that Barry was right. She wanted for him to be right. She felt safer as he guided her through the streets, shoes tapping against the pavement. She could trust Barry, right? She was scared, a mere shell of who she once was. But who was she before the darkness? She was Katrina. She lived by the ocean with her father and mother...was that it? She prayed that Barry would help her, that he would be earnest and find her parents. He had to...he promised.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry led Kat through the department like an owner leads his dog through an obstacle course. She knew that people would be staring at her, at the blind girl being paraded through CCPD. Noises seemed so loud inside her head: a telephone rang twice, a radio emitted static, voices spoke, feet walked the grounds quickly, papers were being turned, men were calling out orders...it scared her, this oblivion of noise and darkness. Kat was relieved when Barry finally stopped and told her to sit down. She felt around her for the arms of the chair and seated herself. Maybe if she looked normal, no one would know she was blind. Kat stared forward, unsure of what it might appear she was looking at. She didn't really care at this point. She just wanted to see her father again. What did he look like? She tried to place the image into her head but it wouldn't come.

"Okay, I'm going to go talk to Detective West. You alright sitting here?"

Kat nodded as she heard Barry's footsteps enter into an office next to her. The door swung open...the door slammed shut. The noise startled her. Would she ever get used to her condition? She reached a sleeve up to her eyes and wasn't surprised to feel warm liquid underneath her eyelids. She soaked it up with her jacket and held it under her nose. It smelled of metal and salt. She had a guess as to what it was, but she couldn't be sure, so she licked the moist sleeve cautiously. _Blood..._she thought, wiping her sleeve against her jeans.

A few moments later, the door beside her swung open again. She heard Barry walk towards her, she could feel the soft thud of his feet against the floor. He grabbed her arm gently.

"Detective West just has some questions, alright. After that, we can look into it more, okay?"

Kat nodded as she was led into the office owned by Detective West. The door shut behind her.

"Barry, get her a seat." the detective said.

Kat was quickly seated before who she assumed to be Detective West. She hugged her arms, scared of what might come next.

"It's okay. You've obviously been through a lot...you need a glass of water?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

The mention of the liquid made her heart leap. How long had it been since her last drink of water?

"Yes...please." she said shyly.

"I'll get it." said the voice Kat now could clearly recognize as Barry's.

In not a moment later, Barry had gone and returned with a glass of water. He opened her right hand and formed her fingers around its shape. She held the glass to her lips and took a drink of the refreshing drink. The glass was then taken from her when she had finished. Would it always be this way? Would she always need to rely on others to take care of her? Would Barry always be here? What about her parents? How would they feel when they realized their daughter was blind?

"So, how about you start by telling us your full name?"

What was her name again? _Katrina_. What was her last name? She couldn't remember that much.

"Katrina." she said quietly.

She longed to see, to see what faces the other two men were making. Were they wearing the sneers that she had imagined on her captors' faces? Were they smiling? Were they disappointed?

"You have a last name?" the detective asked.

She shook her head, ashamed that she couldn't remember something so simple.

"Where did you come from then?" he asked. She could feel his impatience growing. Or maybe it wasn't impatience. Could it be concern? Images flooded into the void of her mind. Flashes of men beating her and throwing things at her. Kat had been with those men longer than she cared to admit or remember. All she had were fragments, shards of painful memories.

"I...I don't know." she admitted.

A pause.

"How long have you been blind?"

"...don't...know…" she said.

"Do you remember anything?"

What _did_ she remember? She remembered her father holding her in his arms. She remembered her mother smiling down on her. She remembered the ocean they lived so close to. Was that it? She grew hot with anger, desperate to know herself. She was Katrina...but who was Katrina? Just a name.

"I have a dad…" she said nervously, "and a mom...we live next to the ocean."

And that truly was all she could remember. _Father, mother, ocean...ocean, mother, Father..._Was she close to her father? She had to be. It was the only thing she was sure of, but what help could the detective offer her given that much information?

"What happened to your eyes?" he finally asked.

Kat didn't entirely know. She knew that a needle had been driven into them, and she knew that her eyes had endured much pain before her world went dark.

"I...can't remember."

It was mostly the truth.

Detective West whispered to Barry quietly, words not meant to be heard by Kat, but when you can't see anything, you end up hearing everything.

"Barry, she obviously doesn't remember anything. Do you think Caitlin could help her?"

"Uh-yeah, I can take Kat over to STAR Labs. Meanwhile, can you just see if anyone has reported a missing child? Amber alerts, posters, anything you can find."

"Yeah, I'll get some people on the case."

"Thanks, Joe."

Now to her: "Kat, I'm going to take you to STAR Labs, okay? I have some close friends who might be able to help you."

Barry sounded sincere, but Kat was still skeptical. She trusted Barry with her well-being. She trusted Detective West with her father and mother, but how many people could she trust? For every good person she could name, she could think of five evil people who hurt her in ways that she couldn't even explain, but what choice did she have at this point? Kat nodded and reached out for Barry's hand. He helped her stand up and walked her out of CCPD.

They stood outside, about to go down the stairs that had proven troublesome when she first arrived. She groped for the railing and slowly staggered down the steps. Barry still held her left hand securely, and in a way, this gave her some confidence as she made her way down.

"Kat?"

She turned towards Barry's voice but saw nothing but black. She heard him exhale.

"Hold on to me, kay?"

"Why?"

In a second later, she felt fresh wind crash into her face, cold, and yet so satisfying. Kat could feel static in the air around her, the air that flew past her effortlessly and fast. Some part of her was scared she might run into something, but she accelerated and turned at certain moments, and other times, she stopped. Was this Barry's doing? It was a magnificent feeling, and for the first time in months, she felt free, as if no one would be able to catch her at this speed. As if nobody would ever hurt her again. She found herself smiling and was delighted as the wind immediately dried her mouth with its cold force and filled her nose with the scent of dry, Autumn leaves.

Suddenly, it all stopped. Her heart was still racing, thumping against her chest triumphantly. She licked her dry lips in satisfaction. Where was she though? Kat could hear very few noises, much calmer than CCPD or the city streets. She could hear a machine overheating somewhere, a sound she was oddly familiar with. A man walked in from another place and spoke.

"Oh my gosh, Barry. You can't just bring random kids into STAR Labs. We've got lots more things to worry about right now, unless you've _already_ forgotten about the meta who can steal powers." his voice dripped with sarcasm.

_What's a meta?_ Kat wondered.

A woman entered the room, heels clacking against the hard floor.

"Cisco's right. Mimic is our biggest concern right now."

Kat and Barry turned around and faced Cisco and the woman.

"Holy mother of...is she blind?" asked Cisco.

"Yeah, and she doesn't remember what happened. Look, I know that Mimic is a big concern right now, but I promised Kat that we'd help her find her parents. Caitlin, is there any chance you could run some tests and figure out what happened to her eyes?"

"Yeah, I'll set up in the examination room."

"Cisco, can you tell Iris I'll be late for dinner...again."

Cisco chuckled. "You sure that's a good idea? I mean, don't think we haven't noticed, but your marriage is kinda screwed if you ask me and-"

"Just call her." said Barry in a voice Kat had never heard him use before.

"Alright, alright, I'll let her know." he said, walking out of the room.

"I'm all ready over here," said Caitlin softly.

Barry held to Kat's shoulders with gentle hands.

"Caitlin's a doctor, okay? You can trust her. She's just going to run some tests." his voice was reassuring and earnest.

Kat followed Barry into the examination room where Caitlin helped her onto a medical bed. It wasn't hard and cold like the one she was accustomed to, and this brought her some comfort.

"Okay, I've got to get a sample of what's in your eyes, so I'm going to have to use the syringe." she said, busying herself with some equipment next to Kat.

"On the count of three…"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three."

As soon as the cold metal touched Kat's eye, she jerked away from the tool. Memories flooded into her mind. Memories with no image, just feelings and sounds. The feeling of her eyes being ripped apart. The sound of her own screaming as her eye was filled with a cold substance unfamiliar to her. Evil people they were. They had beaten her, hadn't they. Yes, but much more. They had blinded her, and they had...she remembered bits and pieces now. They had wiped her memory more than once. Was that why she couldn't remember her father as clearly as she should?

Kat screamed, hoping that someone would save her from her predicament. Blood pounded in her head, filled with adrenaline. She tried to sit up, but the needle only furthered itself into her eye. She screamed, reaching hopelessly in the air for the tool that had lodged itself into her eye. Two hands held her arms against the table. Barry.

"Kat, calm down!...You're alright!" he reassured, holding her arms and legs against the table.

No, this was what the wicked men had done. They had held her against the table with force. They had strapped her limbs against it. The thought terrified her. Voices whispered in her mind, mocking her, yelling, laughing, shouting, cackling. The men had enjoyed torturing her, hadn't they? They had relished every second of her pain.

Kat sobbed into the open air as she felt her cheeks grow moist with tears, or maybe it was blood. How was a blind girl to know? She thrashed against Barry with all of what little strength she had.

"Barry!" called Caitlin, "Hold her down!"

"I'm-...trying!" he responded.

"Give her a sedative!"

Wait, wasn't a sedative something that made you-Kat would like to say that her world went black in that moment, but it had been black for a long time now. In that case, Kat lost consciousness as she fell asleep, relaxing onto the bed, feeling too weak to resist the barb that was drawing liquid from her eye.

Barry slumped against his chair in exhaustion.

"What was I thinking?" he murmured under his breath.

Kat fascinated him. That was for sure. The girl was mostly unremarkable. Brown hair, plain clothes, but two eyes that were torn apart, filled with holes and fillings of some sort. His heart broke for her every time he saw the small girl retreat into herself, every time she asked him about her parents. He had guessed that Kat had gone through more than enough pain for one lifetime, but he did not know the extent of that pain, and he didn't know if she did either. If he was being honest with himself, Kat reminded him of a younger version of himself, one who had just lost his mother. He couldn't imagine what she might be feeling, but he had already resolved to help her. Looking back on it, he probably shouldn't have _promised_ to find Kat's parents.

Caitlin walked over to Barry, looking downwards at her tablet. The screen illuminated her face with a pale light.

"Well?" he asked.

Caitlin looked at him with concern in her eyes. The young doctor scrolled through her results.

"Somebody did that to her...intentionally...Barry, _who is she_?"

"I don't know." he said, feeling defeated, "and I don't think she does either. Will she be blind...forever?"

Caitlin frowned. "Whoever did this to her knows just a little bit more about chemistry than I do...Barry, I think she could be blind for life."

Barry ran a hand through his hair, hating himself for not being able to help her. He was the Flash, wasn't he? Hero to Central City...Hero who let a young girl endure torture and go blind for who knows how long.

"There's something else."

He looked up at her, wondering what else there could possibly be but blindness, amnesia, and possible PTSD, but he got his answer as Caitlin showed him an image of some DNA strands and some blood sample information.

"She's a metahuman."


	3. Chapter 3

Katrina could see. She opened her eyes and she _saw. _At first, she couldn't believe it, but the radiant sun beaming in front of her was enough to convince the bewildered girl. Had Barry done something? Kat laughed in glee as she twirled around in the soft grass...the grass...where exactly was she? Kat looked around her and knew instantly that this was not STAR Labs. Birds whistled somewhere off in the distance, insects hummed by her feet. The sky was clear and blue.

"Katrina?"

She knew that voice. It was the calm, distinct voice of her father. Her heart leapt as she turned around and faced him. He was different than she remembered, he looked younger perhaps, but that was nonsense, wasn't it? People didn't age backwards.

"Dad?" she found herself saying.

Tears in her eyes, Katrina ran to who she knew to be her father. His arms folded around her frail body as she quaked with joy. Tears of relief and joy brimmed her eyes. Her heart felt full. She felt content beyond measure. She laughed as he held her up and spun her around before they both toppled over one another in the grass, the sweet, lush grass that smelt of fresh morning dew.

"What happened?" Katrina asked, still hugging her father's arm.

The man chuckled softly, a sound she remembered and cherished with all her heart. _Liam_ she thought in surprise, _my dad's name is Liam...Liam Arthur..._no...that couldn't be right...did Katrina have a brother who went by one of those names? The man did not answer, but only laughed as the sunlight shone in his eyes, green like the grass.

"Where's mother?" she asked.

Still, her father only chuckled as he held his daughter close. Katrina, suddenly alarmed, pulled away from who she knew to be her father, but who didn't exactly seem like it at the moment.

"Where are we?!" Katrina demanded, shoving aside her father's hands.

"Kat…" He said slowly, in a sinister voice.

"What?!" she yelled, angered by this man, "Just tell me what's going on!"

She looked at her father pleadingly. Slowly, his face began to change. It was like she was watching wax being poured over his head. His eyes seemed weaker, older. His hair grew to a dim grey, unlike the bronze it had been earlier. His face now held creases, identifying him as a man who looked to be about fifty. She knew him, didn't she? This was her father, wasn't it? She recognized both men who had merged, but she did not know which was her father. Worse, she did not know who the other was then.

"Stop it!" she screamed as the man cocked his head and tried to grab her with his hand.

"Go away!" she yelled again, this time kicking the man and retreating.

She knew he was chasing her; she could feel the pounding of footsteps behind her as she raced past the meadows. Everything seemed to grow dark and ominous. The grass turned black, the sky turned to an awful shade of orange. Plumes of grey smoke filled the once beautiful sky, and the sun was red, the color of blood, the color of suffering.

Kat tripped over her feet and fell into the dead grass and the man followed her, pinning her to the weeds around her. Kat looked up at her father, terrified and confused. Then, his face became young again. Color returned to his cheeks. His eyes were green and peaceful again. The man looked concerned as his grip began to loosen. He shook his head and looked at her.

"Katrina, I-I'm so sorry any of this ever happened to you."

Tears rolled down her face as she nodded vigorously, gasping for breath.

"J-just tell me what's happening?"

The man shook his head, but he looked as though he were in pain, as if he _wanted_ to explain everything, but simply _couldn't._

"Katrina, don't trust anyone. Don't _look_ at anyone." his voice was nothing but serious.

"I don't understand-"

Then, her world went black again, just as it had before. She could hear voices around her yelling frantically.

"Barry, she's not waking up!": Caitlin.

"Give her some more adrenaline!": Barry.

Caitlin and Barry. They wanted to help Kat, didn't they? But her father, or who she thought to be her father, had told her not to trust _anybody_. Barry included, but why _shouldn't_ she trust anyone? She was blind-she _had _to trust people if she was ever to survive.

She could feel a syringe being driven into one of her veins, filling her with energy. Her blood ran faster, she grew restless. What happened?

Kat sat up, gasping for breath. Hands rested on her shoulders. The moment seemed to stall.

"Kat…" started Barry, "We were worried about you."

Kat turned around, hoping to see, but she could not, as wide as she opened her eyes, no vision came.

"Where is my father?" she asked, still wanting to ask him questions.

"Kat…"

"Where is the meadow?"

"Kat-"

"Where is my dad!?" she demanded, feeling despair within the deepest parts of herself.

"Kat...you were out for a long time...whatever it was-it was just a dream."

_Just a dream_. None of it felt like a dream. The sky was so vivid in her mind. She could still see her father smiling down on her. She could still smell the grass, still feel the warmth of the sun. How could it be a dream? It was not a dream. It couldn't be a dream. There was more to it, and she knew it.

"My dad's name is Liam Arthur…" she said, "or just Liam...or just Arthur…"

Caitlin was first to break the silence, but her voice sounded weaker than Kat might have expected. "I think it'd be best for you to go with Barry for the night, okay?"

It was as if no one had heard her. She remembered her father's name. Why did that not surprise anyone like it had surprised her. Why wasn't Barry happy for her? Why did Caitlin seem so off? It was a simple answer, really: They knew something that she did not. Something about her father, or something more mysterious?

"Okay, so there are several Liams in Central City and there are several Arthurs in this city, but no Liam Arthurs."

Barry rubbed the bridge of his nose, pacing back and forth in Joe's office.

"So what information do we have on the Liams and Arthurs?" he asked, biting the edge of his nail.

Joe looked at him incredulously, as if once again, Barry had come up with an excuse to go see his dad who was serving time at Iron Heights.

"Barr, there are over twenty Liams and Arthurs within a four-hundred mile radius of Central City...even if one of them is Kat's father, it would take a lot of effort to find him...you're sure it's Liam Arthur?"

Barry shook his head, contemplating.

"I don't know, Kat just seemed really sure that it was after-"

"After she woke up from sedation that lasted longer than it should have." Joe finished before sipping from a hot cup of coffee.

"Yeah."

The incident had frightened them all, but later, Caitlin had told him that the adrenaline had no effect on Kat, which meant two things: One, the adrenaline wasn't what woke her up. Two, Kat could somehow withstand the drug. How Caitlin knew this was beyond Barry, and it still amazed him how she could answer complex questions using chemistry and tests.

"Where is she now?" asked Joe, browsing through all the Liams and Arthurs on his computer.

"Iris is taking care of her back home."

"Jeesh, how'd she take it?" he asked, only half-paying attention.

"I don't know, but she seemed to trust Iris pretty qui-"

"I meant-how did _Iris_ take it."

"Oh."

It was no secret that Barry and Iris' marriage was crumbling. It was hard to believe looking back on all they had accomplished together, but him and Iris did nothing but argue. She wanted him to stop being reckless, he wanted her to stop writing reports that passive-aggressively chastised him for doing something stupid. He wondered how long they would last. Of course, he had asked most of Team Flash to just not mention it, but Joe being their dad made that kind of hard.

"Yeah, she really enjoyed taking care of Kat." he lied, not actually knowing what his own wife was thinking. Part of him felt bad for dropping a blind girl in his apartment and telling Iris to take care of everything.

Joe looked at him skeptically, "You sure, 'cause we both know that tomorrow, there's going to be a story on how the Flash saves an orphaned girl and puts the responsibility of taking care of her on an unnamed civilian."

Barry rubbed his forehead with the front of his hand. "Yeah, I should probably go home."

"Oh, anything new on Mimic?" asked Joe as Barry began to leave.

"Just that he now has the ability to teleport...otherwise, no. Cisco tried to get his location, but the guy's pretty random, so we can't really pinpoint where he's hiding out."

"Okay, then. I'll look into Kat's history and let you know what I find tomorrow."

"Alright, thanks, Joe."

"Oh, and tell Iris I said-"

With that, Barry was gone in a flash, literally.


	4. Chapter 4

Eavesdropping was frowned upon, Kat knew that much. Of course, when you're blind and your hosts are yelling at each other, it's kind of hard _not to_ overhear. Kat pressed her ear against the door, straining to hear.

"Barry, I've dealt with this for way too long-"

"You're not listening to me! People need the Flash!"

"And _I_ need my husband!"

The argument had been going on for hours now. Kat wished she knew what time it was, but the last thing Barry told her was that he was going to have a little conversation with Iris. Kat didn't know how long it went on, but she got the picture: Iris was sick and tired of Barry risking his neck, and Barry was sick and tired of Iris publishing articles that made him out to be a terrible person…and Kat was sick and tired of _hearing _about it. She had tried to fall asleep many times. You'd think it would be easier to sleep being blind, but when you're blind, everything gets louder, so Barry and Iris' shouting turned into screaming for Kat.

Kat pushed open the door slowly.

"Barry?" she called softly.

A breath.

"What do you need?"

She wished she could see his face, to see how he felt. A voice wasn't enough to go off of. She wanted to know if he was smiling or frowning,sitting, or standing, focused, or distracted.

"I know it's none of my business...but...take it from me, you don't really know what you have until it's gone."

She closed the door again and found her way onto the bed. She wasn't entirely sure what her words could mean to Barry and Iris, but she knew what the words meant to _her_. She hardly remembered her past life, she hardly remembered her family. Now, it was all that mattered to her. None of them could understand what she was feeling, but her.

The night hours wore on, but the yelling had stopped, just whispers now. Kat turned onto her side and fell asleep again, only to be greeted by another dream/nightmare.

She was in the meadow again and she could see. The sky was overcast with dark clouds, but no rain fell from them. The grass wasn't vibrant, nor was it black, just plain old grass if Kat could call it anything. This time, Kat took a better look at where she was: A large meadow, dotted with occasional daisies right next to...a cliff. Kat didn't have to look far to see what was beyond that cliff: the ocean, beating against the shore with relentless force. And somewhere close by, Kat knew that a small house was settled in the grass. She looked around until she saw it: the cottage with smoke rising from its chimney in small wisps.

She walked cautiously to the house, _her_ house, but she knew that her dream would take a dark turn soon. Kat reached the house and opened the door. She jumped back when she saw the man there, the old one who had chased her through the dead field. Kat considered running, but the man just stood there in front of her like a stone statue. She waved her hand in front of his face that was fixed to some point in the distance.

Kat edged her way around him and into her house. She remembered this place. The soft leather couches were angled towards the window like they had always been. The long hallway had four rooms in it...why _four? _She counted on her fingers. _Mom and Dad...brother...me…_ who did the fourth room belong to then? Another brother? A sister? An uncle or aunt? Only one way to find out…

Kat walked down the hallway, not at all surprised as the floor creaked underneath her shoes. She opened the first door to the right: master bedroom. Nothing in it besides a large bed and two dressers. Next room, this one more decorated with sports posters on the wall and books strewn about. This must have been her brother's room. She walked to the back room on the left...the door was locked. Was someone in there?

Kat knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" asked a familiar voice from inside, a woman that Kat knew to be her mother's.

"It's me, Katrina, let me-"

Immediately, the door unlatched and opened, revealing a slender young woman with brown hair and rosy cheeks. Her eyes were the color of maple. She looked at Kat in wonder.

"Katrina?" she said, aghast, "how are you...how are you here?"

Katrina shrugged.

"I don't know...who's the man at the door?" she asked.

"What man?" asked her mother, concern lining its way onto her forehead.

Katrina looked backwards towards the front of the house where she knew the man had been...only, he wasn't there anymore. The door was ajar, but no one was in the doorway.

"Never mind…" she said, not too concerned, "Mom, I just need you to-"

The woman looked confused, "I'm not your mom."

"What do you mean?" asked Kat.

"I mean I'm not-...you honestly don't remember me?"

"...no."

Kat had no memory of this woman as anything but her mother.

"Katrina, I'm your sister, Nadine, remember?"

"I don't understand...where's Mom?"

"Katrina."

"Why can't I remember?!"

"Katrina!"

Katrina looked up at the woman who claimed to be, not her mother, but her sister. She knew that face. She knew the soft eyes and fair skin...but why couldn't her brain remember who she was? The woman knelt down so that they were eye level.

"Katrina, Dad wasn't good to us, remember? Liam and I-...we took you and ran...we've been living here ever since so that he can't find us, remember? Five months ago, you went missing...we thought you had run away."

None of this made any sense. Why would she want to run away? Why didn't her sister come and find her?

"Why would I want to run away?"

Nadine sighed.

"You didn't know Dad the way Liam and I did. You wanted to see him."

"But-"

A low growl emanated from behind Katrina. She turned around and saw the man who had previously blocked her entry. The man she now knew to be her father, not her brother who she thought was her father. He held a piece of shattered glass in his right hand.

"How...how is he here?" asked Nadine, caught off guard as if in a trance, "Katrina...run!"

Without another warning, Katrina ran past the man, but not before he cut her with the sharp glass. Katrina cried out in pain, but continued running, out of the house and through the meadows. She looked behind her, unsurprised to see the man following her in hot pursuit. He was much faster than her and already catching up.

Katrina ran as hard as she could-straight for the cliff. You couldn't get hurt in dreams, right? She took one last look at her father and jumped off the edge, straight towards the water that would soon envelop her in its cold and pressure.

Kat woke up, sweating. _It was all a dream...it was all a dream…_ she reassured herself, rocking forwards and backwards in the bed. She pulled the blankets tighter around her, but not before she felt a warm liquid running down her hand. Kat ran a finger over the cut..._that's impossible...it was a dream…_ she thought, trying to come up with a logical explanation, but none came. Her father had slashed her with a shard of glass in her dream and she had woken up with that cut in her skin.

"Barry!" she called, scared.

He came in quickly.

"What do-what happened!?" he asked, rushing to her side. "Iris, get the first aid kit!"

He grabbed her hand, probably looking it over.

"Kat, what happened?" he asked in a serious tone.

"I dreamt...I dreamt I got cut and…"

"We need to get you to STAR Labs immediately."


	5. Chapter 5

"That's impossible." said Caitlin as she cleaned out Kat's cut. "maybe she scraped it on something before she went to bed or something." _Or something_…and that something was expected to be a _plausible_ answer as to why Kat had a six inch gash on her arm. Barry didn't know what was happening. He sure knew that Kat didn't, and Caitlin was still trying to figure it out, but all of her data pointed to one thing: Kat was a metahuman, wasn't she? Did that have anything to do with it, or _everything_ to do with it?

Kat was laying on the medical bed, sedated properly after what happened last time. Caitlin attached some electrodes to Kat's forehead. He had seen her conduct this experiment before, really more like a death trap. "What're you doing?" asked Barry. Caitlin continued her work, "if we're going to figure anything out about Kat, then you're going to have to go into her memories. There's another bed over there. Wheel it over and lay down, will you?" She was talking about entering Kat's memories and interacting within them. Caitlin however, did not mention how dangerous it had been the last time they pulled this stunt. He and Iris almost got stuck in Nora's memories and only got out after battling the Reverse Flash. Obediently, Barry strolled the bed over, next to Kat and laid down, watching with care as Caitlin attached the electrodes to his own forehead. Her fingers were colder than the metal, but he didn't mind. He was glad to have her company while Cisco was working on locating Mimic.

Caitlin looked down at him, brown eyes serious. "Don't do anything stupid." Barry winked at her. "When have you ever known _me_ to do anything stupid?" Caitlin smiled and walked away. "Three...Two...One…" She pulled the switch and Barry's world went through tunnels in his mind. He saw glimpses of memories until he found his way into a dark building, damp, as if from a nightmare.

He looked around him: plain walls, some of it eroded, and a small bed in the corner with a little girl sitting on it with her knees against her chest. Kat, only she wasn't blind. Instead of her milky grey orbs, she had two bright green eyes that almost shone in the dark. She looked at him.

"Barry?" She could see him. She could interact with him. Maybe she could even guide him through her memories.

Barry walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, kneading the tense muscles there with care. "Where are we? What's about to happen?"

Barry knew that he would only be able to enter into memories that had affected Kat the most, and knowing that the girl was tormented from her past, Barry also knew that many of the memories he would enter might be painful and horrific. He heard footsteps and used his speed to hide in a closet in the corner. He made sure the door didn't latch all the way so that he could keep an eye on Kat. She looked at him nervously before turning her attention to the door that had just been opened. Barry strained to see, but the closet's walls would not allow him to see whoever had just walked in, so he pressed his ear against the thin crack that was left open for him to see out of, and listened.

"Kat!" it was the voice of a man, a very angry man.

Barry watched, scared for her, as Kat pulled the blankets tighter around her knees. She was crying, weeping, sobbing. Barry wondered why at first, but he got his answer when he saw the shadows play across the floor. He knew what object they belonged to. Barry saw the silhouette of a man holding a belt. He knew instantly, as the man walked towards Kat, that she was in for a severe beating. He wished he could do something. He wanted to use his speed and phase a hand straight through the horrid man. Who would beat an innocent little girl with a belt? Barry turned away as he heard the first whip commence. The sharp noise was instantly followed by a short cry of the little girl who was forced to take this abuse. Another crack. Another yelp. Another slam. Another scream. All Barry could hear was Kat bawling as the man swung his weapon at her. He couldn't interfere with her memories. He would if he could, but the memories were not like time travel. If he had traveled back in time and seen this, Barry knew that he would stop it, not caring of the damage that might be done. Somebody else came into the room.

"Dad! Stop it! She didn't mean to!" it was the voice of another man, sounding much younger than the one who had just stopped beating Kat.

_Didn't mean to what?_ Barry wondered, opening the door a little bit more so he could see the two men and Kat. Kat who now had welts beginning to form on her face and arms. Her lip was bleeding and her face was wet with tears. She got up and ran behind the other man who put an arm around her defensively. The older man, presumably Kat's father, held out his belt, ready to strike again, but the younger man pulled a gun from his belt and aimed it towards the man who reeled back in surprise.

"We're leaving, all of us. And don't you try and stop us." Kat and the man slowly walked out of the room with the gun still trained on her father.

The memory faded into another scene, this one more peaceful. Kat, the man who had saved her from her father, and another woman were running around in a field, a meadow dotted with flowers. The ocean beat against the shore nearby and there was a small house near the edge of a cliff. Barry watched as Kat ran around in the field as the man and woman chased after her, laughter ringing from their mouths. Barry himself even chuckled, glad to for the first time, see Kat happy, smiling, laughing.

The memory melted and it was night time, but Kat was still outside in the meadow, but without the man and the woman who had been chasing her. She sat there, looking into a bonfire as its smoke rose higher and higher. The ocean breeze was blowing against her hair, causing it to blow forward. She frowned. _What's wrong now? _Without warning, Barry heard a gunshot and saw Kat, with a look of surprise on her face, fall forwards onto the fire. Barry cringed. He heard men whisper and that was it. The memory was over. That was all Kat remembered. After that, everything was black, but Barry knew why. Kat had gone blind, and now, all he heard were her desperate screams and the whispers around her. They were hurting her, and it was far more severe than a belt to the face.

"Get her to shut up!" whispered one of the people around her.

"I tried already, she wants to go home."

"Well, we can't very well do that, now can we? Mimic said to blind her and leave her out in the streets somewhere after three months of testing. He still can't extract her powers though."

Wait, what did these men know about Mimic. More importantly, what did Kat know about Mimic? Especially since he only showed up on the radar a few weeks ago? She couldn't have possibly been imprisoned by him. That would mean that he had a base of operations, and Cisco had said that he moved around too much to tell. Whatever the case, Kat knew. She had memories of the people who worked for him. That was new too: People worked for Mimic. That might explain how he always seemed to know where and when to attack metahumans and steal their abilities. Barry had all he came for, except for answers and names, of course. At least he knew what the man and the woman who had taken care of Kat looked like. Now, he just had to get Kat and find the way out. Last time, the exit was a memory that didn't happen quite as the person remembered it, and usually, there would be some kind of defense mechanism there as well. Barry thought about all of the memories, trying to figure out which one was false. His mind immediately went to the second memory, just because it was the most pleasant, but Barry really didn't _want_ that one to be false. He found Kat somewhere in the darkness and sped out of the room they were in. "Kat, can you take me to where we started?" Her eyes were foggy, grey again. The world started to spin as Barry and Kat were sucked into the first memory. He looked at Kat. "Are you sure this is how it happened?" She shrugged silently. That's when Barry saw it, the flicker of lightning emanating from the man who had beat Kat. This man was a speedster, which meant that he could also time travel, which meant that it could be anyone: Reverse Flash, Zoom, The Rival...even Barry Allen himself, but if that were the case...then Kat would be his daughter, wouldn't she. Worse, he would have abused her. It made no sense, and yet, it made perfect sense.


	6. Chapter 6

Kat's eyes fluttered open, but she saw nothing but a void expanse in front of her. She was afraid of the dark, but the darkness followed her wherever she went. A warm hand settled on her wrist. _Barry_...she thought, suddenly feeling reassured. It was as though nothing bad would ever happen so long as he was around. She only hoped that he would always be around.

"Kat..."he started, "I need you to tell me everything you know about Mimic."

_Mimic_. She knew who that was. Of course, she had never seen him, but she knew of his existence, knew that Barry and the others were searching for him, and knew that Mimic was the cause of all her life's problems. She could faintly remember small details about him, about his voice, about the way he tortured her, the malicious smile she always imagined him wearing inside her head. Mimic wasn't a person. Mimic was a demon, _her _demon.

When she didn't answer, Barry continued, "Lot's of good people are going to die if we don't stop him. Kat, I need you to tell me everything you know."

His voice was urgent, and it scared her. Barry was worried, _she_ was terrified. Mimic wasn't anyone she wanted to remember. He was the one who issued the orders to blind her, he was this faceless creature lurking within her mind, threatening to pounce at any moment and kill her. Only, he never killed her, he only hurt her, tortured her, inflicted pain upon her soul in the most inhumane ways. She wasn't going to talk about him.

"Kat." Barry said, voice sounding harsher, "Several people _died _yesterday because of him. I need you to tell me everything you remember!"

His voice startled her. She felt herself flinch and tense. Kat had heard people yelling many times, but every time they did, she usually ended up in some form of pain. The world seemed to crash around her as Barry continued to beg for information. Her heart beat thundered in her chest. Everything seemed a shade darker than black. Kat threw her arms up over her head, ready for whatever might come next.

Barry stopped.

Kat was shaking, trying to find breath where there was none. She couldn't see what was happening, she did not know what Barry was about to do.

"Kat..."he said, gentler this time. He put a hand on her arm.

"Don't touch me!" she yelped, drawing back immediately, only to hit the metal bed frame.

"I'm sorry I shouted...I just need to-"

"You want to know about Mimic?" asked Kat, suddenly angry, "Mimic is a terrible person, a person who takes little girls away from their family and home, and tortures them, laughing all the while. He did that to me for three months, _three _months!"

"Kat, I-"

"No, don't! I don't want to hear it. I thought it would help me, knowing more about my past, but it only made everything so much more worse. For crying out loud, Barry, I'm scared of the dark." she cried.

For a little bit, nobody said anything. All that could be heard was the hoarse breathing of Kat as she faced the direction that she thought Barry was in. _He's probably left me_, she thought, letting the tears glide down her cheeks. She wanted to be left alone, but not abandoned. Treated like every normal girl who lived in Central City. To her surprise, Barry was still there, and he spoke quietly.

"Are you scared right now?"

Kat thought about it a moment. Barry had triggered some kind of deep buried feelings within her, but she was beginning to recover from that panic.

"No...I guess not." she said weakly.

"That's because I'm right here with you. See, you're not afraid of the dark, Kat, you're afraid of being _alone_ in the dark, and that feeling goes away when you realize something. You're never really alone."

Without a moment of hesitation, Kat lunged forward into his arms, weeping into his chest. Here was someone who would never leave her, someone who would always be there when she was scared, someone she could trust. His warm embrace made her heart feel fuller than it had been in a long time, as if his simple words had resurrected the broken soul she was carrying with her. His arms wrapped around her with ease. She could not see, but in a way, she did not need to. Barry would be her eyes, her stability, her _home_, because that's what heroes were supposed to do, and Barry Allen was a hero to Kat speed, or no speed.

"It's okay, " he said, "I've got you, I've got you..."

She continued to cry, feeling rather pathetic, but also lucky. Lucky that she had Barry there with her, and as sobs racked her body, and water ran freely down her face, she knew that he would not care, that he would hold her there as long as it was necessary, but he couldn't know that she was not crying out of sadness, but out of a new feeling, unfamiliar to her. It really had only one word to describe it: _love_, the acceptance of another person's flaws, the devotion to that person, and the commitment to never leave.

"Guys, we need you up here." said Cisco's voice over the speaker.

Kat pulled away first, scrubbing her wet face with the sleeve of her jacket. She folded over the bed sheets and let Barry help her out of the bed and up to the Cortex. He was patient with her as she tripped and stumbled over her feet, distracted by the wholeness she now felt, as if she was now part of something bigger.

As soon as they reached the Cortex, everyone started to speak.

Cisco: "What took you two so long?"

Caitlin: "Cisco, she's blind."

"That certainly didn't stop Helen Keller, now did it?"

"Helen Keller didn't have post-traumatic stress disorder."

"All I'm saying is that-"

Barry interrupted them. "Guys, what's going on?

"Caitlin says she's found a way to get Kat her sight back."

"I said, I _think _there might be a way to restore her sight."

Kat could hardly believe her ears, but she had grown to trust them more over the past few months. To have her vision back would be wonderful, just to see the color of the sky, to see what everyone looked like. She longed for it more than anything else, and she trusted Caitlin for the most part.

"Really?" she blurted.

"Kat," said Caitlin as if unsure, "if you go through with this, it will be very painful, and it may or may not even work."

Pain. Wasn't she used to it by now? Then again, being used to it didn't make her entirely tolerant of any harm, but the idea scared her less, as long as Barry was here, she knew that she could make it through, and if it worked, it would all be worth it.

"I have to try." she said.

"I'll get set up then." she said, walking somewhere else.

Barry whispered in Kat's ear: "Just don't be disappointed if...if it doesn't work."

"It will work." she said confidently, "It _has_ to."


End file.
